Equipment for use in a patient care facility has been categorized in the past into constructions adapted for limited use. For example, hospital beds located within hospital rooms were ordinarily constructed so as to remain in the room and not be capable of easy transport to and from the room. As a result, it became necessary to transfer the patient from the hospital bed to a patient transport carrier for transporting the patient to a remote location for additional treatment, whereat the patient would likely need to be transferred to an additional supporting surface. It would be desirable to provide a patient supporting surface, namely, a hospital bed, that is usable both in the hospital room as well as usable for effecting transport of the patient from the room to a remote location for additional treatment, including surgery, while remaining supported on the patient supporting surface of, for example, the hospital bed.
In order to effect the safe transport of a patient on the patient supporting surface, it is necessary to provide a siderail mechanism on both lateral sides of the bed to prevent the patient from exiting the patient supporting surface either voluntarily or involuntarily. Since the patient will be experiencing additional healthcare treatment while positioned on the patient supporting surface, it is required that the siderail be retractable and removable to a position free of interference of the healthcare personnel providing the additional treatment to the patient. Simply collapsing the siderail from its initial deployed position wherein the handrail thereon is above a plane of the patient supporting surface to a position below the plane of the patient supporting surface is simply not enough. The siderail configuration will interfere with the close access required for the healthcare personnel to access the patient supported on the patient supporting surface. Further, as the siderail is moved from the fully deployed position to the stowed position, it would be desirable to provide a siderail that would collapse in the top to bottom dimension thereof so that the distance traveled by the siderail from the deployed position to the stowed position can be minimized to prevent interference with structure on the base of the bed.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a siderail construction for a patient supporting surface that is elevatable to a deployed position preventing voluntary or involuntary exit of the patient from the patient supporting surface while simultaneously being movable to a position providing free and unobstructed access to the patient supported on the patient supporting surface.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a siderail construction, as aforesaid, wherein the siderail itself is retractable to a position beneath the patient supporting surface enabling the healthcare attendant to move close to the lateral edge of the patient supporting surface for convenient access to the patient supported on the patient supporting surface.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a siderail construction, as aforesaid, wherein the top to bottom dimension of the siderail is variable as the siderail moves from the deployed position toward the stowed position and to thereby limit the overall vertical distance traveled by the siderail as it moves in the aforesaid direction.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a siderail construction, as aforesaid, wherein the operation of the siderail between its stowed position and its fully upright deployed position can be accomplished by the healthcare attendant through the use of only one hand.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a siderail construction, as aforesaid, which is of a durable construction and requires little or no maintenance.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a siderail construction, as aforesaid, which is easy to clean.